Orbital by Samantha Harvey – theme – Booker Prize winners.
This slim volume offers a metaphysical meditation on the experience of astronauts in a space station orbiting the earth; a book which worked beautifully for some readers and less so for others. If anyone would like to write a sentence or two about these books, please email me janet.bayliss@esneft.nhs.uk – so we can post to the book group part of the ESNEFT book group website.
Dates for future meetings – if you would like the library to source a book for you please contact us on email: hospital.library@esneft.nhs.uk or library.services@esneft.nhs.uk
This is a book covering big themes and which creates a sense of perspective on the role of humans in the universe, with clever use of language and a poetic style. It won the 2024 Booker Prize and has been serialised on Radio 4.
It did not appeal to some group members, who found it too descriptive as it captures the experiences of six astronauts from various countries as they orbit around the Earth in an unnamed space station. Various dramatic episodes are alluded to: for example, their tracking of a typhoon on the planet, how one astronaut deals with the death of her mother who she has not been for many months, but the author’s focus is not generally on plot development and character evolution. The book is very good on the minutiae of life in space; the experience of isolation, also giving the reader perspectives on how insignificant the human race is when looked at from a stellar point of view.
Samantha Harvey, born in 1975 is a novelist whose comparatively small output has garnered multiple awards: this includes three works of fiction preceding Orbital; and a book about her experience of insomnia which is called The shapeless unease, published in 2020. Like so many modern writers, she is the product of a creative writing course at the University of Bath Spa and she has completed a PhD in the same subject.
Lovers of science fiction may not warm to Orbital, but it explores big themes and looks at the world in a different way, which certainly promoted a meaty discussion amongst our group.
In the non-fiction, philosophical area, a suggestion was The good enough life by Avram Alpert, which encourages readers to accept their limitations, arguing that current society is far too competitive, leading to an obsession with “greatness”. Another book with an interesting take on life is Hagitude: reimagining the second half of life by Sharon Blackie which uses stories about older women in European folklore to inspire those of us who are female and have reached the other side of menopause.
We felt that if someone enjoyed Orbital, they might warm to the works of Paulo Coelho, who writes stories with a metaphysical twist; his best known work being The alchemist which was a massive bestseller some years ago.
Finally, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow was worthy of a mention as the original book that the musical Hamilton was based on, but it is a tome and not one for book group reads.
Several of the above are on Libby, check them out via ESNEFT Libby pages.